Albion have been told not to expect Vicente back for training until his contract dispute has been ironed out The Spanish star has turned down a new deal with the Seagulls.

He remains under contract until next June after the club activated an option which allows them to extend his current deal.

But Vicente’s agent last night said the former Spain star would not be present when pre-season work is stepped up a notch today.

Victor Oñate, boss of the Valencia-based management company who look after the player, met with Albion’s head of football operations David Burke last Thursday and described the conversation as “positive”.

Oñate last night told The Argus: “Vicente will not be training with Brighton all the time there is no solution to his differences with the club.”

Vicente is unhappy Albion moved to extend the deal, something boss Gus Poyet told reporters in April they would not do.

Meanwhile in Spain, second-tier Elche have been briefing their local media that Vicente will sign for them if he can free himself from his commitments in England.

Elche would not be prepared to pay a transfer fee and The Argus understand initial reports suggesting they would offer him £300,000 per year in wages are wide of the mark.

He would have to take a significant pay cut to play in the Spanish second tier but would be close to home, where his partner recently gave birth to their second child.

Significantly, he would also team up with Fran Escribá, his coach and friend from Valencia days who has just taken over at Elche with the mission of restoring them to top-flight football.

Onate and his colleagues have not confirmed Vicente has any offers other than of an improved deal at The Amex.

Meanwhile, any chance of Albion defender Adam El-Abd missing part of the new season to play in the African Cup Of Nations evaporated on Saturday.

Egypt, for whom El-Abd made his debut recently, will not be heading to the finals in January and February after suffering a shock aggregate defeat to the Central African Republic in a qualifier.